To say this game was ahead of its time would be the understatement of the century. There are only a handful of games that have handled world building and interconnected level design better than the original system shock. It's a pleasure to see one of the faces behind this masterpiece
That first cyberspace bit, where the number of times you have to shoot the big glowy thing lead to several minutes of Marc not knowing what to do, gave me some insight into why my mum yells at quiz shows on TV. I found myself actually saying, aloud, "No, just shoot it more!" Truly I have become a 70 year old woman watching daytime television.
Better to yell at Night Dive for training players in the first room of cyberspace what they need to shoot to open doors, then requiring players to shoot something completely different-looking, multiple times, that doesn't even look like a solid target, to open the final door.
@@ZylonBane There's a whole discussion to be had on how the new puzzles and gameplay elements don't ease the player in properly. The number of people I've seen struggle with just the first wire puzzle because it's moderately complex for a first puzzle and doesn't explain anything is significant.
The game does explain the credit system and vaporizing items in exchange for credits, and also the weapon mod system. I'd even argue the puzzles being cryptic adds to the experience. It's really cyberspace that does a really poor job at signaling and the non-existent signposting is... remarkably bad.
For being a first-time streamer you're actually pretty good at entertaining an audience, it's fun to watch this and get all those background insider details
I love when modern games pay tribute to Looking Glass and others that set the stage for things to come. Immersive sims in particular stand on the shoulders of giants such as System Shock and Deus Ex. Even in 2017's Prey, there are blatant nods to Looking Glass. Glad to see the homages continue.
Your comment made me realize just how unique a time we live in as gamers. I grew up in the 90s and this is all very nostalgic reminiscing about the early days of 3D graphics and how far games have progressed in such a short time. So imagine 100 years from now, I wonder if video games will still pay homage to these hallmarks of gaming history. And I wonder if games will still have noticeable graphical improvements between generations or even between human generations. Like will kids be playing games that look more or less just as good as the ones their parents played when they were kids? And what will gaming culture be like when we do inevitably reach that point? It's never going to be the same as what we got to experience in our lifetimes.
Athough Deus Ex is an amazing game, I wouldn't call it a giant like System Shock, because many of the features in Deus Ex were inspired by the former, and many other FPS games came before Deus Ex (I.E. Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, etc). Half-life came out the same year SS2 came out, which I think detracted from some of the sales. We wouldn't have FPS games like today if it weren't for the classic titles.
30+ years of experience on computers and being a professional using countless different programs and some things may just click, then you get that part where he gets stuck in the game and it just goes to show that really no ones perfect and we all never stop learning.
I only knew Half-Life long ago but shame on me for not knowing System Shock existed, well anyways I heard great things about this remake so this was my third pre-order after long ago RE2 Remake and DOOM Eternal so now I can't wait for the SS2 EE.
Thief’s sound design and gameplay puts many modern games to shame. Even though the bunnyhopping and some other elements were lost in the third, I still love it; that game would greatly benefit from a remake based on the original intentions behind it. I’d love it if they started with the first two games, though, and made the trilogy cohesive.
Oh, I just realized you probably aren’t playing with EAX or ALSoft. The audio won’t sound anywhere near as good as it used to or can with those software workarounds.
Hey Marc--thanks for a tremendously entertaining and enjoyable stream! I'm the casting / session director for all the voicework on the remake, and it was an honor and a privilege to contribute to the world you all created. Loved getting the behind-the-scenes tidbits and insight on your playthrough. You're a legend!
2:34:20 Here, Marc is referencing an article Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek published on Old Man Murray called the "Crate Review System" if anyone is interested in checking it out.
I have no idea why this got recommended to me but I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see you make this content. I adore it when Devs get to play proper remakes of their own games. To see your reactions makes me so happy.
This is so cool, holy crap. Thank you and the guys for creating the timeless classic that is the original. I adore this remake (even though I do have qualms with it, I find they're pretty minimal) and its fascinating to see you spot all the differences, similarities and small details here and there that harken back to it. :)
System Shock was an eye-opening experience to me. To call it one of the greatest games of all times is no exaggeration. Thank you for helping in making it.
This was great, I wish RU-vid had put it in my feed sooner. I really enjoyed the commentary about the original game's development. Been a fan of Looking Glass's games since Ultima Underworld, and I remember reading the Thief developer diary entries where Marc was Mahk. Going on to watch the rest of these now.
Thank you Marc for all the things you did in Looking Glass Studios. It's great to see you well & kicking, moreover - walking down the nostalgia path with this remake. Before today, I only see you in Thief and SS2 credits, and in the "last day" documentary by Mike Chrzanowski. Thanks for this stream.
Marc LeBlanc. Instantly subbed. Also, I miss the monolog in the intro when Shodan's voice transforms, refering to herself from the third person to the first person.
Looking Glass studios was so incredibly ahead of the time. Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief games were really just incredible and groundbreaking titles. These games may not have been huge blockbuster hits, but their DNA is in everything. It really blows my mind the things these games were doing at the time. Thief in particular still has the most developed stealth system to date and some of the maps in those games legitimately reach peak level design. I also think the use of environmental storytelling was completely ahead of the curve. It really pains me that the studio couldn't make it but the legacy is recognized.
Marc, I just wanted to say that you and all the other programmers for the OG System Shock are actual geniuses. SS 1994 did so many things that were so ahead of the time that it's mind boggling. Not only that, but you actually made it work in a way that didn't make the game feel like a tech demo, but a complete experience.
I had the original game as a kid. It was part of a package with Wing Commander III & a game called Bioforge. It freaked me out. The cover image creeped me out, all the supplemental materials that came with it read like a horror novel. I then installed it and played the medical deck, quit, uninstalled it, and then thew the game disk and supplemental materials in the trash. This was not because I disliked the game. No, I was just that creeped out by the whole thing that I didn't even want it in the house.
Thank you for the original System Shock. It was my favourite game of all times for a decade. Then Morrowind dethroned it, but still, it will always have a place in my heart. It was SO AHEAD of its time. It was ahead of some todays games...
I was so sure it was a Bradbury reference! I remember Warren Spector saying it wasn't, and that it was just the LGS door code but those two aren't mutually exclusive, and the LGS people always struck me as the Bradbury kind!
Thanks for being of the programmers for the original System Shock. The game remains one of my very favourites - to the point I did a few Let's Plays on it a few years ago on my channel (including a one life run) - so I'm really looking forward to watching the rest of this playlist and seeing you play through the remake.
I never played the original so went into the remake pretty blind with no nostalgia and expecting it to feel somewhat dated. Ended up being one of the best games I've played in years, it's insane how well the game design holds up decades later.
Well, in fairness, the only thing really kept from the original was the level design and basic progression of the game. The combat, inventory, hotbar and interface, enemy attacks, and some key item locations are all changed. There's also a whole new level, Security. What kept most people from playing the original was the outdated interface, combat and controls. This game came out nearly the same time as Doom so nobody had figured this stuff out yet
@@papayer You're right, it is. Apparently some guide I briefly looked up while playing the game (I used a guide for the original game because the remake was so new at that time) omitted Security from its table of contents and I assumed it never existed.
I nearly 100%ed this game practically when it came out, I’ve been waiting for it for years. Loved every second. Systemshock is a very unique experience from other “imsims” that I’ll always love, had to start the OG again because there’s something extra special I can’t quite name about it that isn’t quite there for the remake.
I preordered System Shock 2 back in 1999 and loved it, never played the OG. I'm really enjoying the remake so far. I got stuck and almost looked up a walkthrough but then I went through the audio logs and realized I had a code I had never used. Good game.
This is such a treat to watch! You offhandedly mentioned a bunch of references to "oh we couldn't do that back then" - I'm so down to listen to digressions on what was possible in the SS1 era, it's so cool to have that insider look on things, as someone who grew up in that era of gaming!
I'd love to see you play some of the other immersive sims that have come out. Gloomwood's in early access, so it's not exactly _finished,_ but I hear there's an easter egg if you try 451 on some of the safes...
It could happen. I did stream (but sadly did not record) all of my Dishonored 2 play. I can't make any promises, but it'll happen on twitch.tv/algorithmancy if it happens.
@@algorithmancyTube you should def do Prey. Not only is it one of the best immersive sims I've ever played, it's also the best spiritual successor to System Shock 2.
Someone probably mentioned, but on the bookcase that you missed to the right of the games console in the hacker's apartment is an original copy of System Shock! It's a cool little easter egg. Thanks for being a part of the birth of the Immersive Sim genre - The work you did with the rest of the team was phenomenal and will be engraved in gaming history for decades to come.
:D One of the biggest heists in video game history is that System Shock didn't make LookingGlass Technologies\\Origin Systems a metric ton of money upon release. Maybe not Mario money, but still ... could have been a contender. The fact that The RONIN made more money than SHODAN is both perplexing and sad to see the Sentient upgrade to the OS did not translate to fiscal success. Thank you for leading the way and creating the most magnificent sci-fi world since Dune.
Mark, your help on this game changed the way we experience games of this nature. thank you so much having a part in a game that helped pave the way for many, as i call them, 'system shock clones' (deus-ex, cyberpunk 2077, 2017's prey, thief) and many more. all of which very obviously stemmed from some form or another from the genre, with deus and prey being very heavily inspired. great video man, you definitely should do more. maybe a full playthrough of all the games lol.
i just thought to myself... it's one thing to successfully remaster a game and seeing streamers and content creators playing it and viewers enjoy it. it's a whole different story seeing a dev of the vanilla game playing YOUR remaster and having fun playing it. i think, you can't get a bigger, bright red-glowing stamp of [APPROVED] had a lot of fun watching. :) also big love to nightdive! 😍 almost got every release in my lib now. what do i care for every year the same cod when i can replay the classics. ♥️♥️
I had the original game as a kid. It was part of a package with Wing Commander III & Bioshock. It freaked me out. The cover image creeped me out, all the supplemental materials that came with it read like a horror novel. I then installed it and played the medical deck, quit, uninstalled it, and then thew the game disk and supplemental materials in the trash. This was not because I disliked the game. No, I was just that creeped out by the whole thing that I didn't even want it in the house.
This is really nice for you to share this. I'm a game programmer and people like you created absolutely wonderful game and softwares. I'm not going to listen too far however since I want to experience it first hand to see how they made it.
I used to love the commentary tracks in games like L4D and like seeing more devs play their games/successors now. It's cool hearing about the development process, call backs, and canned ideas
Solid stream! GRATS on being part of a masterpiece! I never had a chance to play the original but heard about it for decades. Looking forward to grabbing this when it comes out on PS5
I'm a younger, relatively recent Shock fan as of 2 years ago, and I enjoyed this remake and the original game. Love hearing you tell stories of when you worked on SS1 and other games. Very cool to see.
This is awesome, I checked out your channel and noticed you played the original with other developers 8 years ago. I would totally watch you stream other games you've worked on.
53:40 this took me a while too, because they somehow forgot to add a hit / damage effect when you shoot it. Also, hilarious that 541 was the official real office door code XD Still a better password than 12345678, which was the US nuclear code for a couple years.
Yeah, the remake devs snuck in a few BioShock references -the most obvious one being that Citadel Station is identified as a Lighthouse-class station. Thanks for streaming!
Never played this game until the remake and now it's a newly beloved favorite of mine. I'm on the very last section of my first ever 3/3/3/3 playthrough and it's been very challenging but a blast.
You can change the color of the UI in the option -> accessibility. I like the white option. You can also turn off the hotbar categories so that you can have what ever you want in any slot on the hotbar. You can right click junk to vaporize it to turn it into scrap, and then recycle the scrap into tri-op credits, and then use those credits at vendors.
@@CaveyMoth It doesn't auto-scrap because the exchange rate on scrap to credits is half of the value of directly recycling the item instead of vaporizing, letting you choose whether to compact your inventory on the spot vs hauling items back to a recycler for a better value
@@CaveyMoth I just want a hotkey combo, like CTRL+right click or something, that scraps things quickly. Having to use the context menu each time is a little annoying.
17:38 I couldn't imagine the pain of animating that sprite but at the same time I think its possible. The trick is figuring out how to code a smooth transition between spinning up (fast) and spinning down (slow) while incorporating that into the sprite sheet for that robot.
Came because I couldn't sleep - Staying for the engrossing commentary, sleep can wait. I look forward to binge watching this playthrough, we miss "old heads" such as yourself.
Thanks for working on the game that single-handedly pushed me into the deep end of classic pc gaming as a middle school kid. I'll never forget the how much I would overthink strategies for the Edward Diego fights or how I just guessed the the last number for the self destruct code because I was so low on health. My absolute favorite pc game.
So glad this was recommend, Huge Fan of the Original System Shock and SS2 I grew up playing the original's demo as a kid and I loved the interface system, I bought SS2 a couple of times and enjoyed it that one always felt tense I don't think there was ever one room where I felt like I could relax haha, I don't think I had a lot of game stores to pick from back then so I am not sure if I ever got a chance to pick up the original full game but watched playthroughs I remember going to office furnishing stores and finding things like "Gender Wars." 😆 I can't wait to hear your thoughts about the remake. Personally I think it's a labor of love that helped me experience what the original game was going for but looking forward to your commentary! Actually I just love to hear everyone's thoughts in general... your entire team's game concept and setting was amazing and inspiring that I hoped paved the way for future creations like Deus Ex. We Appreciate You!! 🖖
I also spent a long time parsing the first "pipe puzzle" and thought the visual cues were very confusing. The goal of connecting the red squares is unclear, the blue square is lit on all four directions but can only pass through two of them, and a lot of stuff is unnecessarily lit. However the confusion does seem fitting with the rest of the labyrinth-like citadel station. I wonder if it was a deliberate design choice.
